Death beckons, a day after the Sexual Minority Pride Rally; Condoling the death of Vamshi Raju, a transgender person

Praja Rajakiya Vedike

Press Release

Death beckons, a day after the Sexual Minority Pride Rally

Condoling the death of Vamshi Raju, a transgender person

Bangalore, 25 Nov 2013: It’s just a day after the Pride Rally. The sexual minority community from far and near danced with gay abandon and shouted slogans in their attractive attires even as sparkling rainbow colours set the mood for members of sexual minorities to come out of the closet and indulge in a public show of affection and togetherness on Sunday to create awareness among the public and especially families of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.

But all is not well and the community is still not accepted by even the families who have a member who has a different sexual orientation/gender identity than the one normally accepted. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members undergo regular violence at the hands of their own families, neighbours and many other sections of the society, not to talk about the police atrocities.

“Vamshi Raju, a 21-yar-old Engineering student and a transgender from Yeshwantpur, who danced openly on Sunday at the Pride Rally was captured by TV Cameras and the family could not miss these visuals in the evening news. Sunday night there was a big fight as he returned home from the rally. Unable to bear the denial from his own family, a depressed Vamshi committed suicide,” said Manohar Elavarthi, a human rights activist and joint secretary of Praja Rajakiya Vedike (PRV).

“It is not the first time. Even last week he faced severe physical violence by his father at his home and had to seek shelter in a transgender friend’s house at about 11 pm,” added Manohar. “He was going through a lot of family harassment for more than a year. His family was harassing him so that he won’t interact with sexual minority community members. They have even stopped him from going to his college for 2 months last year,” he revealed.

Acceptance at homes, not just from the public, is a big challenge for members of the sexual minorities who come out into the open with their sexual and gender preferences. Praja Rajakiya Vedike demands the police to investigate and file an FIR immediately. Though he was a pant-shirt Kothi, Vamshi was open about his identity and used to dress in a saari on occasions. A lot of members from these communities face tough mental health issues that needs to be addressed by NGOs and the government agencies to assure them that they too have equal rights as all citizens of India.

Many human rights organisations, Community Based Organisations, NGOs working for the rights of Sexual Minorities have condemned the harassment meted out to the Vamshi and conveyed their deep condolences at the death of another member of the community.